This invention relates to a creeper as used, for example, by mechanics. More particularly, this invention relates to a creeper which can readily be converted into a comfortable chair.
Creepers have long been used by automotive and like mechanics to assist in their work in low profile areas such as underneath the chassis of a vehicle. Typically, a body pad is carried by a frame which is provided with casters to render it mobile and allow the user, in a prone position, to maneuver himself under the vehicle. Such creepers have in the past served, and continue to readily serve, their users in working underneath vehicles and other devices. However, the mechanic at times may be working on other areas of the vehicle where he would be most comfortable being seated, and to that end, a line of chairs for mechanics has been successfully marketed. Nevertheless, the fully-equipped mechanic is required to bear the expense and inconvenience of having two items, a creeper and a chair, to most conveniently and comfortably perform his tasks.
Faced with this problem, there have been some attempts to provide a creeper which may be maneuvered to establish a seating surface. One such device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. Re. 35,732. In that patent, to convert a creeper to a seat, first all of the padding but the headrest must be removed from the creeper. Then the portion of the creeper having the headrest and two of the casters is pivoted relative to the rest of the creeper until stop pins are engaged. The headrest thereby forms a seat. While thus providing a seat for the user, this device has its drawbacks, one of which is its stability and safety. In the seat configuration, it is supported only by four casters with the seat being somewhat forward of, rather than centrally located over, those casters. Moreover, a forward shifting of the weight of the user while seated could permit the seat to begin collapsing back to the creeper configuration inasmuch as it is not locked in the seat position but rather is merely resting on small pins. In this regard, safety could also be a factor because the entire weight of the user is supported by these pins. Finally, this device provides no degree of comfort for the user in that there is no back support as would be provided by a chair as opposed to a simple seat.
One commercial embodiment of U.S. Pat. No. Re. 35,732 manufactured by Excalibur Tool and Equipment Co., Inc. of Greenville, S.C., attempts to solve some of the drawbacks of the device shown in the patent. However, this device still supports the weight of the user on a small surface area and is also quite cumbersome to convert from a creeper to a chair. Moreover, a latch which laterally protrudes from the creeper frame is provided to maintain the device in the desired configuration. However, this laterally protruding latch could constitute an obstruction for the facile movement of the creeper in a confined area.
Another convertible creeper device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,067. This device is mechanically complex in that a slide mechanism must be provided to slide end portions of a creeper toward each other while raising the central portion of the creeper to form a seat. Such a device is not only expensive to manufacture, but difficult to use, and it too does not provide comfort or stability for the user.
The need exits, therefore, for an economically manufacturable creeper which can be easily converted to a comfortable chair which can be safely and stably utilized.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a combination creeper and chair device.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a device, as above, which is easily and automatically converted from a creeper or chair to a chair or creeper, respectively.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a device, as above, which is stable and safe both in the creeper and in the chair configuration.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a device, as above, which can be conveniently and automatically locked and maintained in the creeper configuration and yet be readily detached to be transformed to the chair configuration.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a device, as above, which can be conveniently and automatically locked and maintained in the chair configuration and yet be readily detached to be transformed to the creeper configuration.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a device, as above, which can be conveniently and automatically locked in the full creeper configuration, in the full chair configuration, or in any position between the full creeper configuration and the full chair configuration.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a device, as above, in which the headrest in the creeper configuration is automatically converted to a back rest in the chair configuration.
These and other objects of the present invention, as well as the advantages thereof over existing prior art forms, which will become apparent from the description to follow, are accomplished by the improvements hereinafter described and claimed.
In general, in accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a device which is transformable between a full creeper configuration and a full chair configuration includes a first frame which pivotally carries a second frame. The device includes means which are pivotally connected between the first and second frames to allow movement of the second frame relative to the first frame to configure the device anywhere from the full creeper configuration to the full chair configuration.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a position control assembly is connected between the first frame and the second frame. Upon actuation of the position control assembly, the second frame may pivot relative to the first frame to configure the device in any desired configuration.
A preferred exemplary combination creeper and seat device incorporating the concepts of the present invention is shown by way of example in the accompanying drawings without attempting to show all the various forms and modifications in which the invention might be embodied, the invention being measured by the appended claims and not by the details of the specification.